Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Being...

[85:1] Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 249.

[85:2] Genesis, xvii. 10.

[85:3] Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 251.

[85:4] Mr. Herbert Spencer shows (Principles of Sociology, pp. 290, 295) that the sacrificing of a part of the body as a religious offering to their deity, was, and is a common practice among savage tribes. Circumcision may have originated in this way. And Mr. Wake, speaking of it, says: "The origin of this custom has not yet, so far as I am aware, been satisfactorily explained. The idea that, under certain climatic conditions, circumcision is necessary for cleanliness and comfort, does not appear to be well founded, as the custom is not universal even within the tropics." (Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 36.)

[85:5] "Other men leave their private parts as they are formed by nature, except those who have learned otherwise from them; but the Egyptians are circumcised. . . . They are circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, thinking it better to be clean than handsome." (Herodotus, Book ii. ch. 36.)

[86:1] We have it also on the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that: "this custom was established long before the arrival of Joseph in Egypt," and that "this is proved by the ancient monuments."

[86:2] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 414, 415.

[86:3] Ibid. p. 415.

[86:4] Ibid. and Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 89.

[86:5] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 415.

[86:6] Herodotus: Book ii. ch. 36.

[86:7] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 114. Amberly: Analysis Religious Belief, p. 67, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309.

[86:8] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 414, and Amberly's Analysis, pp. 63, 73.

[86:9] Amberly: Analysis of Relig. Belief, p. 73.

[86:10] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414: Amberly's Analysis, p. 63; Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 163, and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. pp. 18, 19.

[86:11] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 414.

[86:12] Kendrick's Egypt, quoted by Dunlap; Mysteries of Adoni, p. 146.

[86:13] Amberly's Analysis, p. 63, Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309, and Acosta, ii. 369.

[87:1] Orton: The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322.

[87:2] This was done by cutting off the clytoris.

[87:3] Orton: The Andes and the Amazon, p. 322. Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 563, and Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 319.

"At the time of the conquest, the Spaniards found circumcised nations in Central America, and on the Amazon, the Tecuna and Manaos tribes still observe this practice. In the South Seas it has been met with among three different races, but it is performed in a somewhat different manner. On the Australian continent, not all, but the majority of tribes, practiced circumcision. Among the Papuans, the inhabitants of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides adhere to this custom. In his third voyage, Captain Cook found it among the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, in particular at Tongataboo, and the younger Pritchard bears witness to its practice in the Samoa or Fiji groups." (Oscar Peschel: The Races of Man, p. 22.)

[87:4] Luke, ii. 21.

[87:5] Matthew, v. 18.

[87:6] In using the words "the religion of Jesus," we mean simply the religion of Israel. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, in every sense of the word, and that he did not establish a new religion, or preach a new doctrine, in any way, shape, or form. "The preacher from the Mount, the prophet of the Beatitudes, does but repeat with persuasive lips what the law-givers of his race proclaimed in mighty tones of command." (See chap. xi.)